Fertilizer and process of making the same.



GEORGE HI-LLARD BENJAMIN, OF .NEW YORK, N. Y.

FERTILIZER AND PROCESS OF MAKING- THE SAME.

1, 1o5,eoa. No Drawing.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application flied May 23, 1912.

Patented Aug. 4, 1914. Serial No. 699,326.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Gnonor. HILLARD BEN- JAMIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county and btate of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fertilizers and Procemes of Making the Same, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in a process for treating the residual waste product obtained after subjecting ligno-cellulose to the action of a hydrolyzlng agent, as now practised in the production of methyl alcohol from wood, to convert it into a fertilizer.

The hydrolyzing processes which may be employed for converting ligno-cellulose into glucose are: (1) Extensive and long boiling of the cellulose with water. (2) 'Subjecting the cellulose to the action of an enzym. (3) subjecting the cellulose to the action of hydrolyzing chemicals. The residual Waste product obtained, will of course, depend upon the nature of the hydrolyzin' process employed.

As hy rolyzing by means of long boiling is commercially impracticable, I confine my process 't'o=the treatment of the waste products obtained by fermentation or chemical treatment, and in order that the physical and chemical characteristics of such waste products will be understood, I will first describe thegeneral and special treatment to which the woodis slibj'ected in hydrolyzing.

Wood ofthe kind commercially emplo ed, and initheform of fine -chippings, sa ust, shavings, etc, consists approximately of Aqueous extract 1.26- 2.88%

The average contents of the ash is H 30. 0. .1 H,PO, r 0.2 -i ..t 0.2 -K CO O 4: Its-. 00, 0 2 E -U0 .1 3 Mgcag; 0.2

The -foregoingtab1e=shows the percentages in 1000 parts of wood with the total ash equal to about two to three parts.

The ligno-cellulose (0 11 0,) which forms 30% of th organic substances, consists of Carbon 4.6 47% Hydrogen 6.5 5.8% Oxygen 47. 947. 2%

The first step in the hydrolyzing process is to separate the two series of organic substances, i. 6., the sugars from the resins and proteids. To accomplish this their physical pro erties must be taken into consideration. theric oils, resins, etc., as is well known, have a very low boiling point, whereas cellulose and its derivatives have a hi h boiling point. To effect separation, t e ligno-cellulose in whatever 'form, is put into a container and steam introduced at a pressure of about five atmospheres, and maintained for about thirty-five minutes. At the end of this time the steam is drawn ofl, carrying with it the volatile substances, which may be condensed, leaving the cel lular structure of the woody fiber in a separated or loosened condition. With certain \voods'this process may have to be repeated several times, to brin the woody fiber into the best physical con ition to effect hydrolyzation.

Hydrolyzatz'on by ermentaiz'0n.-The

woody fiber derived rom the treatment above described, is now'transferred to .a vat, preferabl shallow in depth and of considerablewidtii and'length, and water introduced until'the layer of water'is about four inches in depth. The water is preferably hot, and is maintained at a temperature offrom 115 to 40 centigrade. Simultaneously with the introduction of the water, any suitable enzym is introduced. In practice 100 grams of enzym will hydrolyze '1000 kilos of wood fiber. The best action of the enzym is obtained at from 28 to 33 centigrade. Care should be taken in carrying out this process, to prevent the formation of an acid. The reaction wvill take from 12 to 24 hours, according to the condition of the material and the temperatures.

After the conversion of the cellulose, contained in the wood fiber, into glucose, the fluid portion of the ody is drawn oif, and if desired, subjectedto the action ofan enzym and distillation to convert moose-into alcohol. Themsidualsemisoll proximate then mixed with the residual liquid product from the distillation process, pressed, and finally subjected to a dehydrating process, preferably dehydratedhot dry air, to form a dry final product.

H ydrolyeation by chemical actz'0u.-The woody fiber derived'from the initial treatment as previously described, may be subjected to the action of an inorganic acid, as for instance, sulfuric acid (H 80 hydrochloric acid I-ICl) .or preferably phosphoric acid (H PQ, the reactions being. aided by heat. The treatment witlrsulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid is fully described in. U. S. Letters Patents granted to Malcolm F. Ewen and'Georgeli. Tomlinson, No. 7 63,47 2 dated June 28th, 19U4, and No. 938,308 dated October 26,1909.

, The preferred treatment with phosphoric acid I believe to be original with me, and this treatment. I will describe, although 1 make no claim for it in this application.

, The woody fiber derived from the initial treatment, is introduced into a container and steam at 100 lbs. pressure turned on for about fifteen minutes to separate any vola-- tile products which have remained from the initial. treatment. Thesteam is then cut off and'the. container connected to a vacuum pump and the pressure reduced to about twenty inches. At such time a solution of phosphoric acid (H PDQ 1s introduced. The strength of the solution will depend upon the. amount of cellulose present. In ordinary conditions. of. practice, for 1000 lbsLof sawdust in-its original state, .15 lbs. of phosphoric acid will be required. The amount of water used in the phosphoric so.-

lution also depends upon the condition ofthe mass treated. "I prefer to use as little water as possible. After the solution of phosphoric acid is added,the temlperature is raised to approximately 350 ahrenheit.

' The time required to effect hydrolyzation is generally. from 20 minutes to three hours, depending upon the character of the product, treated. After the conversion of the cellulose into glucose'which is according to the following reaction, to wit:

the contents of the container are ejected and left standing for-an hour, and the liquid phosphoric acid, calcium phosphate, probably in the monoor (li-calcic form, both of which are soluble.

Having .thus described the production of the product which is to be converted into a fertilizer, I Will now describe the treatment of such product to form the fertilizer.

Treatment of the product produced by fermentatiom-The dry roduct may conveniently be divided into t ree parts of equal weight or of different weight, in accordance with the percentage of the materials derived from the separate parts which it is desired to incorporate in the fertilizer. One part is incinerated to form ash. A second part is introduced into; a retort and subjected to the required temperature to convert the ligno-cellulose into amorphous carbon and ash. A thirdpart-is mixed with such an .amount of ammonia compounds, phosphates and nitrates asmay' be required toform, in connection with the other materials obtained from the first and second parts, the fertilizer desired. The three parts are then mixed and sifted.

Treatment of theproduct produced by hydrolyzz'ng with sulfuric. dcz'd.-The dry product may be divided into three parts,

equal in weight or otherwise, as desired.

One of these parts is mixed with any suitable binder and pressed to form briquets. In practice I find that such a binder may consist of wet sulfate of lime. A second part is introduced into a retort and subwhich has been dried by. dehydration, may

be added.

Treatment of the product produced by hydrolyzing with phosphoric acid-The dry product receives the same treatment as described for treatment of the product produced by fermentation, with the exception that a smaller percentage of phosphoric acid is added and required.

The three steps described in each example, are necessary for the following reasons:

The incinerating step.The object of this step is to concentrate the mass by destroying the organic matter. The remainin substances will consist of sulfates, phosp ates, carbonates, silicates, and chlorids.

The carbom'ez'ng step.--The object of this step is to effect the conversion of the lignocellulose into amorphous carbon, the amorphous carbon and ash'forming a body which is in a condition to be readily absorbed by .the plant, and further, acts to prevent decay of the Woody fiber of the third part and to promote disintegration. Disintegration, as is well understood, is differentiated from decay, in that disintegration enriches the organic substances, while decay sets free gases which impoverish the organic substances.

The enrickz'ng.step.The object of this step is to add such amounts of ammonia, phosphates and nitrates as are required to produce the particular fertilizer desired.

In each case the fertilizer produced consists of: (1) A highly porous carrying body, 2'. 6., the dry ligno-cellulose final product. The porous nature of this body acts to open the earth and allow access of water and thus promotes chemical evolution of gases and the like. (2) A humuslike substance (derived from the action of the carbonates of the ash upon the ligno-cellulose itself). (3) Balanced alkalis and acids. As has been stated, the calcium sulfate or calcium phosphate obtained in the treatment of the lignocellulose by sulfuric acid or phosphoric acid, may be added to the fertilizer, and ordinary hydrate of lime may also be added, Where it is found that there is a tendency of the fertilizer to become acid. I do not limit myself in any wise to the character of the soluble ammonia compounds, nitrates or phosphates which may be added.

In carrying my improved process into 5 effect, I may prefer to briquet the first part,

and then burn the briquets to form ash and also incidentally, to produce the heat to carbonize the second part. Instead of compressing the first part into briquets and then burning, I may introduce the dehydrated product, together with a certain percentage of sulfate of lime and dry lime, into a suction gas producer and use the gas for power or heating purposes and the ash as one part of the fertilizer.

I have not described the proportions of the different ingredients which may be combined to form the fertilizer as this is clearly a matter of determination, depending upon the character of;the fertilizer required.

I have described the first and second steps as carried on separately. These two steps may be combined, that is to say, the incinerating and carbonizing steps may be combined, and in the case where the phosphates or nitrates are obtained from certain grades of minerals, all three steps may be combined with the exception that a certain amount of the initial waste product in a dry state may be mixed with the other bodies to impart the porous character desired. Where the hydrolyzing of the ligno-cellulose is eflected by the addition of phosphoric acid, and such phosphoric acid neutralized by the introduction of lime, calcium phosphate will be produced which will form a part of or may be incorporated with the initial waste product, in which case the amount of phosphates which would normally be added to the third part, would be materially decreased.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The herein described process of makmg a fertilizer from ligno-cellulose, which consists in dividing a mass of ligno-cellulose into separate parts, burning one part to obta1n an ash, carbonizing a second part to obtain amorphous carbon and ash,-mixing with another part such chemical bodies as are nutritive to plant life, and finally mixing the separate parts.

2. The herein described process of making a fertilizer from ligno-cellulose, which consists in dividing a mass of ligno-cellulose into separate parts, burning one part to obtain an ash, carbonizing a second part to obtain amorphous carbon and ash, mixing with another part ammonia, nitrates and phosphates, and finally mixing the separate par s.

3. The herein described process of making a fertilizer from ligno-cellulose, which comprises dividing a mass of ligno-cellulose into separate parts, carbonizing one part to obtain amorphous carbon and ash, mixing with another part chemical bodies nutritive to plant life, and finally mixing the separate parts.

4. The herein described process of making a fertilizer from a mass consisting of ligno-cellulose and sulfate of lime, which consis ts in dividing a mass of such body into separate parts, burning one part to destroy the organic matters, carbonizing a second part toobtain amorphous carbon, ash and a calcium compound, mixing with another part chemical bodies nutritive to plant life, and finally mixing the separate parts.

5. The herein described process of mak- 'ing a fertilizer from ligno-cellulose which has been subjected to the action of a hydrolyzing acid, which consists in dividing a mass of such treated ligno-cellulose into separate parts, burning one part to obtain an ash, carbonizing a second part to obtain amorphous carbon and ash, mixing with another part chemical bodies nutritive to plant life, and finally mixing the separate parts.

'6. A fertilizer comprising inorganic ash, amorphous carbon, ligno-cellulose, ammonia compounds, phosphates and nitrates.

7. A fertilizer consisting of inorganic ash, a calcium salt, amorphous carbon, ligno-cellulose, ammonia compounds, phosphates and nitrates.

8. A fertilizer consisting of a highly porous carrying body, an inorganic ash, amorphous carbon, and chemical bodies nutritive to plant life.

9. A fertilizer consisting of a highly p0; rous carrying body, an inorganic ash, amorphous carbon, and ammonia compounds, phosphates and nitrates.

10. A feriiiiizer consisting of a carrying body formed from clry ligno-collulose, am inorganic ash, amorphous carbomand ammonia compounds, phosphates and nitrates.

11. A fertilizer consisting of a carrying body formed from comncm'nu'lsod, dry ligfmocellulose, am inorgwnic ash, amorphous carbon, and bsvlwmcodi acids aundt ailkailis nutritive 1110' lant iifo.

12. A fentilizon coms-isfling of a. porous car'- 10 sryi-ng. body, an inorganic ash, aphous carbon, and a calcium salt,

In testimony whereof, I afii-x my signature, in the presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE EEIMJAEDY BENJAMIN.

Witnesses:

HELEN E. Komscm, Em: WEILL. 

